Press release on false statement made by senior politician in parliament alleging that Family Federation in Japan sent “massive funds” to the regime in Pyongyang
Regarding Protest Letter Concerning Statement by House of Representatives Member Kazuhiro Haraguchi (原口一博) on “Massive Funds Remitted to North Korea”
Press release issued by the Family Federation of Japan 10th June 2025 concerning a statement by House of Representatives Member Kazuhiro Haraguchi (原口一博) on “Massive Funds Remitted to North Korea”. See original article in Japanese.
On 23rd April 2025, during the House of Representatives Special Committee on the Abduction Issue by North Korea, Kazuhiro Haraguchi (原口一博), a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) of Japan, made the following statements:
- “I recognize that massive funds were transferred from the former Unification Church to North Korea during the 1990s”
- “¥380 billion [Today’s rates: 2,66 billion US dollars] was funneled.”
However, neither our organization nor the then-world headquarters of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification has ever sent ¥380 billion to North Korea.
Since there was no clear basis for the claim that “¥380 billion was sent to North Korea,” we sent a written protest in the form of a questionnaire to Haraguchi on 27th May, requesting clarification. We received a response dated 3rd June.
In Haraguchi’s response, he stated that the basis for his remarks was a “Pentagon document” – a U.S. Department of Defense report dated 9th September 1994, titled “Relations Between North Korea and the Unification Church”, hereinafter referred to as the “DIA document”. However, our organization believes that the DIA document is highly unreliable.
Furthermore, the 3rd June response included a correction of the amount mentioned, but regardless of the figure, there is absolutely no truth to the claim that our organization or the former world headquarters of the Family Federation sent “massive funds” to North Korea.
We sent a follow-up protest letter to Haraguchi on 9th June, confirming its receipt on the same day. In order to make clear our position – that the claim of a large remittance to North Korea is unfounded and that the DIA document is extremely unreliable – we are making public both the 27th May protest letter and the 9th June follow-up letter. (For security reasons, telephone and fax numbers have been removed.)
Translated from Japanese. Press release issued by the Public Relations and External Affairs Department of the Family Federation of Japan.